


Game Over

by grandAce



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Final Haikyu Quest, M/M, Oisuga Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-06
Updated: 2015-01-06
Packaged: 2018-03-06 07:24:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3125987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grandAce/pseuds/grandAce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The fire was extinguished, and the small inn was plunged into darkness one final time. Without looking back, the two hooded travelers walked away, leaving behind the loud celebrations as the night swallowed them up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Game Over

**Author's Note:**

> WELP. I'm not even entirely sure I wanted to post this for day one of Oisuga Week. The prompt was "Late Night", and while it fits the bill technically, perhaps it would have been better to save this for the final free-prompt day. Oh well.

In the late hours of the evening, the inn was quiet and nearly devoid of life. Not a soul occupied the main floor of the building besides the innkeeper himself, who stood wordlessly behind a long counter. There wasn’t much else to do on nights like this, and so the innkeeper surrendered himself to the mindless cliché of wiping down clean cups with a towel. A neat line of spotless glass began to make its way down the counter.

A log burning in the fireplace split in two, cracking and falling into place with a sudden sound that caused the innkeeper to jump. The glass in his hands nearly slipped free to fall to the ground and burst into a million pieces. For caution’s sake, the innkeeper set it back upon the counter. His elbows and forearms followed, resting atop the worn wood as he stared blankly across the room.

Why were his nerves so frayed tonight?

Closing his eyes, the innkeeper attempted to focus his attention on the distant sound of festivities in the town square. It was far off – the inn was located at the outskirts of town – but he could hear strains of gleeful shouts and laughter if he listened closely. Yet… here he was, minding the inn as he always did.

And it was a good thing, because the front door swung open at last with a lazy creak, allowing the entrance of a tall, hooded figure. Looking up, the innkeeper straightened his posture and put on a smile. There was a mental countdown in his head, and three seconds later he spoke up to greet his visitor with friendly cheer.

“Good evening, traveler. It seems you have traveled a long distance. There is a party tonight in the town square to celebrate the defeat of the Grand Demon King who lived in the castle overlooking the town.” He was answered with an exasperated groan. The innkeeper’s smile never wavered, and he spoke again once his guest sat in a stool on the opposite side of the bar. “Are you seeking a place to rest, or—”

“Quit the act, Suga-chan!” snapped the visitor finally. He mirrored the innkeeper’s earlier stance, resting his arms heavily on the counter. His head bowed, still covered in the hood he wore. Despite that, the innkeeper didn’t need to see the face of his cloaked guest to identify him. He hadn’t even, really, needed to hear his voice, but greeting guests to his inn was a matter of formality.

“I’m sorry,” came the innkeeper’s reply, lips raised in a smile as he began to gather and put away the glasses on the counter. A few moments of silence filled the gap between them before the innkeeper spoke again. “I can’t help it. I am only an innkeeper, after—” Again he was interrupted.

“Your _name_ is Koushi Sugawara,” came the irritated voice, head lifted enough that Koushi could more clearly see the uneasy glow of brilliant red eyes beneath the hood. “You’re not _just_ an innkeeper.”

Pausing for a few moments with a glass still held in his hand, Koushi finally set it back on the shelf with an awkward laugh. “You’re right, Tooru. I’m sorry.” He turned to his guest again, approaching the counter and leaning on it. This seemed to placate the man; his raised shoulders finally lowered slightly. The silence between them now was almost friendly. With a final look around the otherwise deserted room, the visitor removed his hood.

The most noticeable thing about the visitor were the two horns that curved from the crown of his head. It was obvious from just a glance that Tooru was a demon, and yet the innkeeper didn’t seem surprised in the slightest. If anything, there was a marginal shift in his demeanor toward the positive, judging by the traces of fondness in his smile. This fondness did not appear to be shared by the demon who groaned with put-on exasperation as he looked away.

“How could you _betray_ me, Suga-chan?!” When Tooru spoke, it was to criticize the innkeeper. Red eyes brewed with a maelstrom of hurt and indignation as the demon went on, hands smacking the wood counter. “I trusted you! This is how you repay me? You go and tell the heroes all my weaknesses? You tell them things even _Iwa-chan_ didn’t know, and you guarantee that I have no chance of victory?”

Now that he had finally begun his tirade, the demon showed no signs of letting up until he was finished. Not one to be rude and interrupt, Koushi allowed him this. He stopped paying attention shortly in, instead focusing his attention on the messily-applied bandage that covered one of the demon’s cheeks. It did spark in the innkeeper a short-lived pang of guilt, though the sentiment was forgotten as he tuned back in for the tail-end of Tooru’s rant.

“You didn’t have to tell them! I could have had everything, Suga-chan! I _had_ everything! I had Princess Michimiya. I had the Volleyball of Destruction. I had the world’s strongest dark mage and the world’s most clever succubus working under me. The world was _mine_! Now look where I am!”

Koushi made a show of looking around them, his lips pursed together before creasing into a smile. “You currently sit in Koushi Sugawara’s inn on the outskirts of—”

“Ugh! You’re _doing_ it again!” Again Koushi was interrupted, though he didn’t mind. He was used to it by this point, by people too impatient to let him finish rushing through his words. “And let me guess, this has something to do with you telling that little mage all my secrets too, doesn’t it!”

“It’s my job.” Shifting to lean more comfortably on the counter, Koushi focused his full attention on the demon. “I gather information. When the hero’s party asks, I tell them what I know. Those are the rules, Tooru. I didn’t make them.” It was clever of the white mage, Koushi admitted, to question him about what knowledge he had of the demon king and what secrets he had learned living in the town at his castle’s foot. Kozume hadn’t even known that his relationship with the demon king went deeper than appearances…

When Tooru sighed, it was mixed parts of defeat and exasperation. He shifted where he sat, the long nails of one hand tapping irritably on the wood beneath them. “Why didn’t you come with me? You could have stayed in the castle. You could have stayed with Kuro and Kiyoko and her two imps. You could have stayed with _me_ , and the heroes would never have gotten into the castle without your help. We could have been happy.”

“The rules, Tooru.”

“Okay. Let’s pretend that what you just said isn’t _total crap_ , because you broke the rules the moment you started talking to me.”

Koushi took a deep breath, but he didn’t say anything. Despite that, Tooru waited. He waited until it was obvious that Koushi had no more to say. Then, finally, he sighed and shook his head. “What about now?” Flattening his hand on the counter, Tooru leaned forward. “Come with me.”

“Tooru, I can’t. The rules- I’m an NPC. This inn, this role, this is my place. I can’t leave.”

“The game is over, Suga. You can do whatever you want.”

They were both silent.

Tooru spoke first.

“Are you scared?”

Koushi’s answer was a shrug.

“Of what? The world? You know more about this world than anyone else. And I’ll protect you. You won’t be hurt! ...or are you scared of me?”

Tooru held out his hand, smiling.

“Come with me.”


End file.
